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IP Addresses Not Enough To ID Users
phaedrus5001, with his first accepted story, points out an article at Ars Technica from which he's excerpted a chunk relevant to nearly anyone with an internet connection: "A file-sharing lawyer admitted this week that IP addresses don't by themselves identify someone accused of sharing copyrighted material online. To figure out who actually shared the pornographic movie at the center of the case, lawyer Brett Gibbs of Steele Hansmeier LLC told the judge (PDF) he would need to search every computer in the subscriber's household."
Does it really matter? Do we need to know every time it's someone's first accepted story? I know I get a good feeling deep down in my heart to know that phaedrus5001 has finally found acceptance...
So... what If I'm a nice guy, let them search, and they find nothing?
If someone was connected to his 802.11 network.
In the case of an open Wifi hotspot would it also mean all the neighbors in range too?
(I bet they'd probably just stick the owner of the router with the bill)
and anyone else parked nearby at the time
Would you prefer "First post! by: phaedrus5001"
Sadly, I don't expect this will end anywhere good. I expect RIAA enforcement to suddenly extend to 'all computer equipment on the premise' and more draconian identifying methods by ISPs.
So what if they search all the computers in the house hold it doesn't prove who was sitting at the computer when the actual sharing was done. Most house holds have at least one computer that everyone uses at some point.
Is it that difficult to hide a netbook connected to a USB HDD under a fake panel in your cupborad or something?
Set up password protected access, download on that netbook and stream to watch
Modded this back up, because I'm tired of it as well.
There aren't enough IP addresses for each user, and they are not static. Also, a trojan can compromise a PC and perform actions without the user's permission.
He'd have to search:
Man, that's a lot of computers to search.
Domains, shared and dedicated hosting, SSL certs, and more: ArrowBay.net
Last time i checked. there really isn't any way to guarantee that i am the one who used my computer.
I would prefer, "phaedrus5001 writes,..." but if people cared what I preferred, we'd still have a CmdrTaco.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Duh!...? This is nothing new to us... is this new to the courts, the lawyer or this poster?
Can lead to mandatory software required for internet access, with logging of all communication
Before you can surf the web, you have to log in with your social insurance number and an ISP password. Once that's done, your ISP will allow your traffic. Time to authenticate individual users.
Don't want to do this? NO INTERNET FOR YOU!
Sent from EXXON-Mobil MGM Coca-Cola iPad
Considering a large % of people on slashdot, me included, have stuffed computers into everything except the pancake mix, and I could be wrong about that, those pricks better have a lot of time on their hands.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
This, although I don't particularly mind seeing it in the submission. What I do mind, though, is that /.ers whine about it and point it out like a sore thumb. "Bawwww, the article is from a first poster, we must bring attention to this and ridicule him/her!"
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
I would tell them to go fuck themselves. Then I would get the highest profile lawyers in the world to smash his cases to pieces law boy.
More like every user in the neighborhood. Wait, what if the thief was mobile? Better set up roadblocks at the state lines!
Just because the computer in question shared a file doesn't mean anyone in the house did it or was even aware of it. For that matter, there are trojans and viruses more than capable of establishing a personal computer as a file-sharing node without the knowledge of the owner / operator. The person at fault is the person that intentionally caused the content to be shared, not the computer owner or operator(s).
Seems like an awful amount of work. Just setup disk/file encryption of some sort. Personal favorite: Truecrypt.
The **AA reality distortion field is apparently even stronger than Apple's.
Hollywood can't bear to have someone copy Revenge of the Nerds 3. So they get as far as "We got this IP Address down to one household - but we don't know who in the household did it."
The solution is of course - "confiscate all equipment in the household!"
Or, we can hope, sanity will prevail...
The Unholy Trinity of Prophetic Manuals is becoming 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World. Bonus Reading Fahrenheit 451.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The **AA reality distortion field is apparently even stronger than Apple's.
Apple does not have a very strong RDF, their fanbase however...
We're irritated with the editors, nobody gives a damn if it's the submitter's first accepted submission.
Would you prefer the constants whines from people complaining that slashdot was/is in cahoots with the likes of Roland Piquepaille, and the only way to get a story submitted is to be a member of that club?
Because I remember plenty of those posts back when Roland was alive and submitting. Now I see complaints like yours, which seem to be the exact opposite.
Accept that most people aren't going to be happy no matter what, and agree to overlook a few words that cost you a few precious digital bits.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Nobody's complaining that this is the guy's first submitted story, they're complaining that the editors feel the need to point out such trivial information.
The executive should recognize that downloading files is not the same as consuming them.
Three examples:
(a) Files are not marked as copyrighted material + can't be identified as such by netpeople before/after they start the load.
(b) The download stays on the storage unopened.
(c) User is closing the files, after a copyright warning came up.
Downloading + consuming in the knowledge that it is copyrighted material is a violation. Otherwise _
_ you can put up website with links to copyrighted material, save the User-IP (which is possible) and/or cut a deal with ISP's ( which is not necessary ), check out a netservice who is holder of the User-IP and let the lawyers do the rest.
Although this is won't work with DSL because of PPOE login, with a cable modem your IP address is not proof of anything.
Why? DHCP is not the only game in town. On many networks, you can take a DHCP-assigned address and determine the appropriate subnet mask, default route, and DNS server. But nothing really stops you from manually overriding the IP address, as long as you choose one in the same subnet that happens to be unused at the moment. The ISP can make this a little more difficult by remembering the MAC address associated with each address, but there are workarounds for that too.
I became aware of this when my cable modem stopped working and the support technician discovered that my IP address was in use from someplace other than my house. In those days, all addressing was static. Some other customer had inadvertently (or deliberately) assumed my IP address. The tech gave me a new address assignment and everything worked. So whoever hijacked my IP address left the audit trail pointing to ME. The hijacker was (from an IP address perspective) invisible.
About time that someone has some common sense in the judicial system. I have very rarely heard judges having this much common sense when it comes to computer technology. I am glad now that we can at least make a small step forward in judicial cyber hearings.
We need to keep logs of our DHCP servers for 6 months (which is about twice as long as it takes for a DMCA notice to find its way to us).
As has been pointed out in previous bitch-fests about this, it's a way to encourage a more diverse range of submissions by communicating to users that they are welcome to submit stories even if they're not part of the Slashdot Cabal. Of course, many hardcore nerds LOVE to be part of clique-ish cabals. So I assume you're one of those knee-jerk noob haters as well as an AC. I would guess that the recent high frequency of "first time submitter" mentions is because this plan is ACTUALLY WORKING. Get over yourself.
Weeeellll...considering the fact it has been slashvertisement city here as of late frankly we ought to be damned happy that it isn't some more Infoworld or that other site (you know, the one that had the brass balls to put a FIFTY ONE PAGE TFA under "Best FOSS software!" like a giant douche?) so personally I say welcome aboard dude.
As for TFA, yeah that is ALL we need, considering their "detection software" said a fricking laser printer was file sharing, is to give these douches an excuse for a fishing expedition on EVERY PC IN THE HOUSE. Be honest guys, how many of you have receipts for every bit of media, software, movies, etc, that you have? I know I'm moved 4 times in the past 5 years and have NO clue as to where half of my damned discs are. That was kinda the whole point of backing everything up onto a HDD as it is a hell of a lot easier to keep up with a USB HDD that holds thousands of discs worth of stuff than it is to keep up with thousands of discs.
I know some got crunched and tossed when my amp fell over on the box (boy that was a mess!) some are in storage, some I lent to my mom (whom I'm sure has promptly lost them or her damned goat of a dog had them for lunch), some I lent to friends (yeah good luck seeing THOSE again, hell I don't even remember who has what), some are in storage and some lord only knows where I put those boxes.
Personally as much as I hated Wesley Crusher I saw a video of Wil Wheaton at some convention and he nailed it "Make it simple for people to have the files legally" because as Gabe at Valve pointed out the pirates are offering a better value. I should be able to buy a disc ONCE, register it, and that's it, I'm done. i should from then on be able to put it in any damned format I like, toss the disc, whatever, I paid and I'm done. The IP bullshit is the only damned thing I can think where they say it is property AND/OR a license, apparently on the whim of the IP asshole. If I have the disc I only have a license, but then I lose the disc I only had the media and need to replace, WTF?
If I would have kept up with every single disc I swear i wouldn't be able to even walk in my damned apt, and if scum sucking lawyers like in TFA start using that excuse to make fishing expeditions frankly we're all fucked.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
1) Go into an apple store and download porn using their free wi-fi. You don’t need to keep you laptop open, or anything. You can use the hour or so it takes for your genius bar appointment.
2) Use the free wi-fi at a Starbucks; might be a bit slow.
3) Use the free wi-fi from any hotel parking lot. You might have to ask the clerk for the password, or maybe a housekeeper.
4) Use the unprotected wi-fi in your neighborhood. There are usually several. I recommend checking out senior housing. Sometimes a resident has died but the network stays up for years.
5) Download a cracking tool and crack WEP in 20 seconds. Most residential networks are protected on WEP.
6) If anyone can think of a solution to plug copyright leaks, no matter how crazy, let me know.
I will create a sig when innovation restarts in the U.S.
(+1, informative)
Revenge of the nerds 3 ? ewwwww. At least it was better than Revenge of the nerds IV! *shudders*
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
I've got news for you. From that you'll probably learn that an IP address doesn't reliably identify a household full of computers either, let alone who might be using them.
I see that as the underlying issue of prosecuting people who had no knowledge of a crime. How can I choose not to commit one if I am not aware I am making one?
When you leave an AP open despite government-mandated warning labels not to,* you choose to make yourself unaware that you could be facilitating crimes or torts. It's a form of recklessness called willful blindness, and a copyright owner suing an AP operator might rely on In re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643 (7th Cir. 2003).
* I'm not aware of any such warnings being required yet, but it's likely to happen.
Would there be any trace on a computer that shared the file if it were booted from a LiveCD and the copyrighted work was stored on flash? (other than on the flash drive that is...)
We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
As ipv4 increasingly runs out, and more people find themselves natted behind a single address shared with hundreds of others, the harder it becomes to track down individuals...
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
Even the wifi tablets? the netbooks? the laptops? the wifi cell phones?
What if they are encrypted?
What if they use removable storage (SDHC)?
What if the device ain't home?
The legal system is out of touch with reality.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I know some got crunched and tossed when my amp fell over on the box (boy that was a mess!) some are in storage, some I lent to my mom (whom I'm sure has promptly lost them or her damned goat of a dog had them for lunch), some I lent to friends (yeah good luck seeing THOSE again, hell I don't even remember who has what), some are in storage and some lord only knows where I put those boxes.
You should consider putting some of the discs in storage.
And goodluckwiththat if they want to search every computer that has used my IP address; that includes the 10 or so in the house, virtually every relative and friend who has come a-visiting, several business associates and clients, members of assorted local clubs and social committees who rotate to my house for meetings, neighbours and their kids on occasions when their own connection has been down, and every random joe and jill who has benefitted from my FÓN shared bandwidth.
Don't forget these lawyers don't actually believe all this crap about licensing and ownership. They know perfectly well it's bullshit, and that the legal framework for IP is broken in the gutter, but their employers and clients pay them money to pretend. It's their job to lie to us. That's what makes them lower than vole scrota.
Not one comment about the EFF Open Wireless Movement. that was covered on /. back in April.
It's a cause I believe in and I try to do my part. Around my house an open network called EFF Open Wireless is available from 9am - 6pm. You're welcome to use it if you ever see it :-)
they'll just accuse you of not turning it over.
And possibly even win on that accusation, combined with an accusation of failure to log or retain DHCP leases.
And a white list impinges too much on basic functionality unless you add everything in the world to it, but if you do then it isn't doing what you want it to -- it isn't my job to run the censorship board.
Copyright owner trade associations might argue that you've made it your job to run the censorship board by opening your AP to the public.
You don't need a license to use the internet.
Not yet, but see previous stories about Microsoft's strategy VP Craig Mundie and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke sincerely floating the idea of "Internet driver's licenses".
And you are responsible for all activities on your account.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Sounds like they are trying to get a wholesale warrant to search anything they want, just to due suspicion reported by almost anyone.
Even if they had to have 'evidence', that is easy since so many people have WIFI now.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I don't know how are IPv6 numbers to be distributed, if there will be some way to link the IP to a single person. But as they connect directly to servers with their own IP, they will leave a record of the individual computer, instead of the IP of the router.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
the only IP lawyer I know very much believes in IP. And I know him well enough that he'd be honest.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Well, after all, we've somehow gone from punishing people who are driving drunk because they might hurt somebody - which was not terribly ethical but also not totally unreasonable - to purposely subjecting TSA staff to dangerous radiation because someone else entirely might hijack a plane.
It's been a short trip from an understandable caution to full-blown cowardice, I guess.
No kidding. I've had ~5 stories accepted over the years ... as AC. I'll never get that wonderful feeling of acknowledgment :-(
It's not relevant to the story whether or not it is the first accepted submission from a person or not, so I don't understand why that's added in there. Likewise, it's obvious if it's a story on Ars Technica that the submitter has either excerpted directly from it or paraphrased it. Again, "from which he's excerpted" is not relevant. We can *see* that.
Who submitted and the source of the story remains relevant, so something like this would be appropriate: "phaedrus5001 points us to an article at Ars Technica that should be relevant to nearly anyone with an internet connection:"
I don't think they could do anything about your collection due to burden of proof. They should have to prove you'd downloaded them. I digitized a large portion of my collection. Some I've sold over the years at garage sales and whatnot. it would be ridiculous to expect someone would keep every disc ever bought. A huge portion of my older CD collection is now gone and digitized on my PC.
I don't think it's illegal to copy your movies and music to a digital medium and then get rid of the physical (is there a lawyer in the house?)
Does it really matter? Do we need to know every time it's someone's first accepted story?
From now on, I guess we do. Otherwise the subsequent first-posters will feel neglected. _MY_ first and only accepted submission was never put on a pedestal like this, for FSM's sake!
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
"it's a way to encourage a more diverse range of submissions by communicating to users that they are welcome to submit stories even if they're not part of the Slashdot Cabal."
The problem with this is that you STILL need to pique the editor's interest.
They've gotten too lame-brained to have any real interest in anything outside of computers. I've practically bypassed photosynthesis, and yet you hear NOTHING about it. Oh well, enjoy not knowing a fellow /.er is responsible for keeping you fed at a reasonable price for the next few decades. /. - News for Computer Science Majors, Useless for Other Topics.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
haha as i disconnect from side of users house and walk away as the feds show up running around looking for ...haha GONE
IANAL but I was under the impression that if you get rid of the physical media you are also supposed to delete any "backup" copies.
I may be wrong though, so if you know better please do correct me.
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
If I would have kept up with every single disc I swear i wouldn't be able to even walk in my damned apt, and if scum sucking lawyers like in TFA start using that excuse to make fishing expeditions frankly we're all fucked.
You mean when, not if. We are watching them lay the foundation for laws such as this where they can just point at a street block and shout 'search all those houses'. Or even to the point of the upcoming IPEA ( Information Property Enforcement Agency ) to drive around and randomly searching peoples ipods and laptops.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
There's no right to back up anything but software. So the statutes simply don't have an answer for that; by the plain text of the statutes, if a making a copy for space shifting or for archival purposes is fair use, there's no bar on keeping that copy while destroying or even giving away or reselling the copy it was made from. This is because "keeping" a copy isn't one of the rights reserved to the copyright holder. I give the chance of any court upholding that interpretation at 0.0005%.
With IP6 we could permanently assign a static IP address range to every networked device (as is done with mac address), then dole out the addresses in that range one per user account. When you used the internet you would be uniquely identified (machine and user account). It wouldn't prevent people sharing accounts on a computer but it's close enough to get you a lawsuit.
and if scum sucking lawyers like in TFA start using that excuse to make fishing expeditions frankly we're all fucked.
There have already been Constitutionality questions raised about many aspects of the RIAA lawsuit mill. In fact, we're already beyond the merely ridiculous, in both the outrageous claims these lawyers make, the "evidence" they present, what courts have been accepting from overpaid Armani suits.
The thing is, there's some precedent for these kinds of fishing expeditions, and it doesn't even take a schlock outfit like the RIAA to start one. The first of which I was aware was the infamous Steve Jackson Games case, where the Secret Service took the word of a phone company (a phone company!) that wrongdoing had been committed, and caused quite a bit of damage. When it got to court they lost, and received a reprimand from the judge for their sloppy investigative practices.
Law enforcement always tends to take the side of large corporate legal departments over individuals: the tragedy there is that the corporation can afford to pay for its mistakes, while the average citizen cannot and can easily be bankrupted.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
the only IP lawyer I know very much believes in IP. And I know him well enough that he'd be honest.
I'm sure he does a good job for his clients. On the other hand, just because he believes in that which pays his salary absolutely does not mean that what he does for a living is good for society as a whole. I mean, that's like asking a surgeon if you need surgery. Don't be surprised if the answer is biased in his favor.
I know IP lawyers too, and the honest ones admit that it's largely parasitic in nature, that overarching IP law is causing significant damage to both culture and industry, suppressing technological advancement, and transferring wealth at unprecedented levels to the pockets of large IP holders and their attorneys.
They still send in their hourly bills though.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Ergo skip the summary? Why not skip the story? Why not skip /.? While I don't disagree per se, this criticism of the poster (timothy) would be stronger if it hadn't come from "Anonymous Coward". Anonymous Cowards criticize the original poster, if you are Outing the editor, say your name.
Gently reply
He was visibly saddened by the abuse of Disney and BMW intellectual property (mostly trademark).
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
IPv6 allows individual users to have routable static addresses when they need it, such as their own websites. But it doesn't preclude them from having dynamic addresses either, which would probably be used while web surfing. Regardless of whether someone's router uses DHCPv4 or DHCPv6, if they use DHCP and use one of those changing addresses, it would be hard to ID which computer it came from.
Granted, in a home, if somebody gets, say, a /64 from HE, just the Network ID part of the address might narrow down the search, but even that would only work if the home has only one computer using one address @ any time. If there are a bunch of computers & tablets @ home, say on a wireless network, then the person they're trying to trace would be untrackable, although there would be only a handful of people to investigate. But if it's a company w/ say its own /48, then depending on implementation, it may be tough determining the end user. If the network employs just static IP addresses, sure, the owner of the laptop that uses that address can be zeroed in on, but otherwise, if the company runs DHCP on its network, then unless it has a log of which IP address was mapped to which MAC address, they too can't do anything. And rounding up hundreds of people will be a lot more difficult.
In short, if one was one of those IPv4 advocates who thought that NAT keeps you safe, you're mistaken. Switches would have the local address => MAC address mapping for IPv4 that can reveal a computer behind such a local address (unless that too was being changed very often). In short, regardless of IPv4 or IPv6, if the address used was a dynamic address, the address can't ID the user.
Not running out of IPv4 space.. not logic.. but the ability to identify traffic as coming from a specific computer vice "it came from that network". (yes I know there is IPv6 NAT.. but we are talking about the masses).
I suspect you're going to be disappointed there, because an IPv6 address doesn't actually identify anything either. The only reason that you can even connect an IPv4 address to an account holder is that the ISP keeps records and people have been willing to assume that those records are accurate. With IPv6, the ISP will allocate a block of address to each account holder and the account holder will use them for their devices. The ISP won't have any idea which address allocated to the account holder was used for which device, and the address assigned to each device may change arbitrarily according to the whim of the account holder, who is not likely to keep any records and whose records naturally could not be trusted in any event.
As I pointed out in another subthread 'NAT is not a shield', an ISP could provide the Network ID part of a private owner's address, but if that private owner has distributed addresses b/w the computers of different family members or even guests, that would be intrusive on other people in that network. The problem gets worse if one is talking about an office environment, where hundreds of employees could have to be tagged.
Then they will have to make IPv6 NATs illegal, too.
ISPs charge extra for more than one IP so anybody who has more than one device (PC, Tablet, TV, Smartphone, etc) will enable a NAT in their crappy router.
This whole "gotta do anything to get all possible profit for media" is getting out of hand. But since people are OK with the TSA hand literally up their asses they won't mind having different hand on their wallets, too.
If one gets IPv6, one will get not a /128, but a /64 address range, which allows one to have up to 2^64 addresses on one's network. If DHCPv6 is used, it'll be impossible to identify which device had which ID and when - particularly if all this is going thru a private wireless router. Currently, under IPv4, you're probably going thru multiple NAT layers, but under IPv6, the router could be assigned the Network ID, each SSID to a separate subnet, and then, under this router, addresses could be assigned using DHCPv6, thereby having dynamic IPv6 addresses and throwing off the scent. ISPs would charge the same for a single /64 as they would for for a single /32 under IPv4. In the latter case, one could either use just one device, or connect it to a switch and then NAT it, whereas in the former case, one can connect any number of devices (less than 2^64) to it. So the cost of the single /64 would be spread over all of them, instead of being dedicated to just a single address.
There is no such thing as IPv6 NAT - by design, IPv6 doesn't have any NAT. All the NAT mechanisms that work w/ IPv6 are there for the purposes of interfacing w/ IPv4 private addresses - there is NAT 46, NAT64, NAT464, but absolutely no NAT66. Large Scale NAT is there in a v6 network, where the translation from v6 to v4 is done just before the address goes to a device that can just deal w/ IPv4.
Who needs NAT? Autoconfiguration is just a standard way to pick a non-conflicting address, but since ARP is still part of the spec, you can choose any other as well so long as all other machines on that subnet agree to respect the same standard.
Alternative standards exist already, including choosing a random address and sending out probe ARPs to see if it conflicts.
So while only one machine at a time can have a particular IPv6 address, any computer on the subnet could have been that one if you so choose.
Taken to the e
I'm happy I got an opportunity to post about IPv6 - be it someone's first or someone else's last.
The whole idea that you (or any customer) has to keep hold of receipts and/or discs to prove that they aren't "thieves" is completely wrong. What happened to innocent until proved guilty?
As far as I'm concerned, when I buy something, I'm not obligated to keep the receipts, packaging or any part of it that I don't want to keep. If someone thinks that I've stolen it, they'd better be able to prove that I did steal it and I'm not talking about a couple of lines from a server log indicating that an ip address has been associated with a partial file transfer.
I really think that customers need to stand up and refuse to do any business with companies that try to brand us as crooks and thieves.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
This is not really news.
The IP is ABSOLUTELY USELESS is a unique identifier of the person actually using the connection.
First there's other cabled devices in the household.
Then there's wireless devices, both in and outside the household, which again includes both neighbors and random 'wardrivers'.
Lastly, there's malware on any of the above devices.
In order to find the correct individual just about every device in the world needs to be searched, which is of course completely absurd.
Oh, and I also remember a case where someone without wireless turned out to be sharing his connection with the neighbor wirelessly. The neighbor had actually broken in and connected a hidden access point to the network of the unsuspecting victim. This way he could use the connection without any chance of discovery (and if the access point was found. nothing would point back to him, except through analysis of the network traffic). His idea was based on a story he had read about a similar setup using a hidden cordless phone and long distance calls. So even though you don't use wireless technology, your resources might still be abused wirelessly.
Actually, I've also heard about cabled abuse, mostly concerning electricity. It isn't exactly uncommon - especially in apartment complexes - to see 'creative' ways to circumvent the meter, from manipulations around the meter itself to 'secret' cables through walls and to utilities like street lights, powered junction boxes etc. Most of these gets found out due to the drop in their bills, not through discovery of the illegal cabling.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
Well, if police finds a corpse in your garden, it's possible that SOMEONE put it there. The fact that the corpse is in your property doesn't prove that you perpetrated the murder. That's why there is a whole profession called forensics, to determine the conditions of a crime and help to find the guilty person.
Worse yet, if you are running a TOR exit node in the household, then it could be anyone on the internet performing the offensive digital acts. So, in affect, until things like TOR are made illegal, having one makes it almost impossible to convict someone in the household of committing the crime.
Personally, I'd love to see an indication of number of submissions, frequency of submissions, and submission to acceptance ratio, along with someone's number of friends and foes posted beside their name at the top of posts, along with a way to filter out submissions based on these criteria. Age of account would also be a useful metric (so we can turf the submissiions that are from the same person creating new accounts to hide their foes list).
I didn't see it yet, my download hasn't finished. COME ON PEOPLE, SEED! oh ho ho ho ho
Isn't it possible this lawyer is a consummate actor and not actually a compassionate, unselfish person?
Or true but a statistical outlier?
"A file-sharing lawyer admitted this week that IP addresses don't by themselves identify someone accused of sharing copyrighted material online."
This is an excellent point.
If you want to stop worrying about getting
sued for copyright infringement while
using bitorrent, you should get a roommate
who traffics in child porn.
duh
More likely the statistical outlier. I never said unselfish either.
It wouldn't shock if part of why he believed it is due to the fact that it's what he does many hours a week for years. Not everyone reacts to that with cynicism, plenty of people drink the kool-aid. We (as a species) have a natural tendency to think what we do is useful, even when it's not.
Also, when you deal with small picture part of things constantly it's real easy to not see the big picture. Practice of the law (and corporate more so) is so removed from the reality of the situation, that it would actually surprise me to find that most lawyers have any real concept of where they fall in the larger picture of their field. I would also say that as far as IP law goes, coming after legit trademark infringement is on the fairly noble side. If you eliminated copyright, trademarks would be the way to make sure you actually compensated the right person.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
And no one in their right mind would think that it was legitimate to demand $1M USD for a disc. If an artist chooses to relate to his audience in such a way, I don't find it unreasonable that his audience would return the favor and choose to listen to his music without paying him (even if illegal).
If by legitimate you meant "legal", you are correct, but many people might instead interpret "legitimate" differently.
Well my sitch would really fuck with them as I buy the games, but play the pirate versions so WTF would THAT mean? Why would I do that? Simple I'm on an X64 OS and I've found the DRM in most of those games are 32bit ONLY yet not only do you not get to take it back if their DRM doesn't run on your OS, but you don't get anything if their shitty DRM hoses your PC!
A word of advice from your friendly PC repairman....if you go 64bit and play games keep lots of OS backups and watch out for mixing DRMs, like Safedisc plus SecuROM or Starforce plus SecuROM. You see the douches that makes those always assume you are on 32bit so their installers try to jam 32bit ring 0 hooks into a 64bit kernel, which is nuke bomb on stability bad, and then to top it off the uninstaller only works on 32bit so you can't even remove the fucker!
But getting consumers to stand up won't work, as they are "too big to fail". They'll just bring in a PPT that shows if they made X last year they should be making X+Y this year and since they ain't it just HAS to be piracy! So they'll get more draconian laws, thanks to bribes.......errr....Citizens United...and if that doesn't raise profits they'll just get a too big to fail check directly from your tax paying pocket. You see it is the new socialism, in that all profits are privatized but all losses, real or imagined, are born by the tax payer. it would be like going to Vegas and being allowed to gamble all you want and when you are finished if you didn't win they give you back your money PLUS 300% "for your trouble". Must be nice to be in that elite club.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
If you feel that way, I'm surprised that you bother paying for your games.
You could always put aside the money that you would have paid and instead buy DRM-free games or donate it to the EFF, but it's your money, so you can do whatever you want with it.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
If you own the account and own the router, than you will be the first in line for legal action. Your best course of action short of kicking him off, is to block torrents at the router. Then if you get that letter, respond with your response to the first letter that came in. You blocked access due to violations of TOS.
If you have not kicked him off or blocked torrents, it is time to cancel the account and let him sign up for the ISP connection. Then he is first in line.
The truth shall set you free!
I like the way the pretty boxes look on the shelves and with Amazon most are less than $10 so it is often easier and cheaper to throw one in when I need something and get free shipping. Also the problem with piracy is DLC is unavailable and frankly with some games the DLC is better than the game! Bioshock II was okay but Minerva's Den was frankly better than the main game IMHO. But I won't have any of the Ubisoft games, not dealing with the phone home crap.
As for DRM free games I'm at over 35 from GOG now, and every time they have a game I'm even slightly interested in I buy it even though I haven't gotten around to playing even half what I have.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I thought the time shifting issue's more substantial cases - like Betamax - had to do with non-software media, but I could be wrong
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
i think it's not a compel work to change your IP